Last head of state to lead troops...

Didn't Madison leave DC and Dolly before the British got there?
I think he went out to meet the British and was forced to retreat with his army, but I’m not sure.
Allow me to introduce you folks to the "greatest disgrace ever dealt to American arms", the Battle of Bladensburg.

"The hasty and disorganized American retreat led to the battle becoming known as the "Bladensburg Races" from an 1816 poem. The battle was termed "the greatest disgrace ever dealt to American arms" and "the most humiliating episode in American history". The American militia actually fled through the streets of Washington. President James Madison and most of the rest of the federal government had been present at the battle, and had nearly been captured. They too fled the capital, and scattered through Maryland and Virginia. That same night the British entered Washington unopposed and set fire to many of the government buildings in what became known as the Burning of Washington."

EDIT: you know, this gives me an idea...
 
Lincoln was under fire at the Battle of Ft Stevens in July 1864 but did not exercise command (only acted as an observer) so I don't know if that would count. But yes Madison at Bladensburg (aka the Bladensburg races) is considered the last President to command troops in battle.
 
It seems like De Gaulle is the most recent. Although I don't know much about Mao in the late Chinese Civil War. Perhaps he led from the front?

I would actually look into more recent civil wars in places like Africa and the Middle East to find heads of state in battle. Though there's difficulty in finding a clear-cut example. Modern generalship doesn't involve fighting on the front, usually. And in most civil wars in the past fifty years, the sitting head of state leads from the presidential palace or other headquarters while the rebel leader leads from the front. Meaning that by definition the "head of state" doesn't lead troops in battle even if he is an active general. A good example of this is Charles Taylor of Liberia. When he was a rebel he lead from the front. When he became president he sat in Monrovia directing operations far away from his HQ.
 
Hitler does not count, because he stayed hundreds of thousands of miles from the front and commanded from a bunker.
To count as “leading troops” a leader needs to be far enough forward that he risks being killed by enemy fire.

Strictly speaking, Hitler could have been killed by a stick from a B-17...
 
During WWII Mussolini went to Albania to "personally supervise" operations against the Greeks, which of course turned into a humiliating defeat.
 

iVC

Donor
Fidel Castro in the Cuban Revolution? He was an insurgent at the time, but...

Bay of Pigs happened well after the Cuban Revolution.

The CIA and the Democratic Revolutionary Front had based a 1,400-strong army, Brigade 2506, in Nicaragua. On the night of 16 to 17 April, Brigade 2506 landed along Cuba's Bay of Pigs, and engaged in a firefight with a local revolutionary militia. Castro ordered Captain José Ramón Fernández to launch the counter-offensive, before taking personal control of it.

castro-tmagArticle.jpg

New York Times.
Fidel Castro in a tank near Playa Girón in Cuba on April 17, 1961,
 
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Washington led troops during the Whiskey Rebellion. Didn't know that about Madison, good stuff.

Also, what about some of the Northern Alliance commanders in Afghanistan during the early days of OEF?

I don't think Madison was even commanding the entire force but rather a single artillery battery. Having the president as a subordinate commander does seem kind of strange.
 
What’s the latest head of state that could lead troops into battle? King George VI could have sat on a battleship off the Normandy coast?

I seem to recall that Churchill wanted to be on one of the ships leading the invasion, and George VI convinced him not to, on the threat that if Churchill went, the King would too. Churchill therefore backed down.
 
What exactly leading troops means in modern times? Was, for example, Hitler moving his armies on the map "leading troops"?
Hitler during the last phase of the battle of Berlin may count depending on how one defines "leading troops" ?
 
I seem to recall that Churchill wanted to be on one of the ships leading the invasion, and George VI convinced him not to, on the threat that if Churchill went, the King would too. Churchill therefore backed down.

I read that Eisenhower convinced him not to.
 
How about George W. Bush in his flight suit aboard USS Abraham Lincoln? She was technically away at sea (40 miles from San Diego) and he did insist on an arrested landing in an S-3 Viking...
 
How about George W. Bush in his flight suit aboard USS Abraham Lincoln? She was technically away at sea (40 miles from San Diego) and he did insist on an arrested landing in an S-3 Viking...

I'm thinking the actions of a number of post ww2 US Presidents during various circumstances when the US employed military force may fit the criteria.
 
Allow me to introduce you folks to the "greatest disgrace ever dealt to American arms", the Battle of Bladensburg.

"The hasty and disorganized American retreat led to the battle becoming known as the "Bladensburg Races" from an 1816 poem. The battle was termed "the greatest disgrace ever dealt to American arms" and "the most humiliating episode in American history". The American militia actually fled through the streets of Washington. President James Madison and most of the rest of the federal government had been present at the battle, and had nearly been captured. They too fled the capital, and scattered through Maryland and Virginia. That same night the British entered Washington unopposed and set fire to many of the government buildings in what became known as the Burning of Washington."

EDIT: you know, this gives me an idea...

That is a kickass POD, and we need a TL from this.
 
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